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"Don’t use PPTP. Point-to-point tunneling protocol is a common protocol because it’s been implemented in Windows in various forms since Windows 95. PPTP has many known security issues, and it’s likely the NSA (and probably other intelligence agencies) are decrypting these supposedly “secure” connections. That means attackers and more repressive governments would have an easier way to compromise these connections."

It is said often enough that PPTP VPN is insecure and you shouldn't use it.

In what ways *specifically* is it insecure? What are the implications of using it?

Can an attacker gain unauthorized access to the network by logging in to the VPN? Can user account passwords be compromised?

PPTP can handle authentication in different ways. Typically, these are weaker authentication methods which can be cracked and/or replayed. The exact mechanism depends on the authentication method, but I would consider it likely that a username/password could be compromised, and thus allow an attacker remote access to your network.

Or is it just that the data passing over the VPN can be decrypted / manipulated?

This, too.

The goal should be data integrity, data accessibility, and data confidentiality, (and increasingly, non-reputability). A VPN's purpose is integrity and confidentiality. PPTP fails on both of these.

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